Big new mixed climb on Mount Morrison, the Eiger of the Sierra, by Jack Cramer, Tad McCrea, Vitaliy Musienko

In a range known for splitter golden granite, Mount Morrison sticks out like a sore thumb. Colloquially known as "The Eiger of the Sierra" Morrison has a reputation for poor quality rock and its East and North Faces have relatively few ascents given its proximity to the highway.

On April 14th 2023 Jack Cramer, Tad McCrea, and Vitaliy Musienko set off to complete a mixed line on the ENE face of Mount Morrison. Cramer and McCrea had made two attempts on the same route in February and March of 2021. The lack of ice and snow that season made for more arduous and time consuming climbing than they had anticipated and they bailed after 5 and then 9 pitches respectively those first two attempts. This season was the biggest winter on record in the Sierra Nevada and it seemed as though conditions had been setting up nicely. As April arrived the two invited Vitaliy Musienko along to join them in finishing off the project. The trio decided to bring a light bivy kit to ensure they would have enough time to navigate the tedious snow covered slabs and problem solve as they scratched their way up the notoriously loose metasedimentary rock.

Starting up the first pitches it was clear that the route was in better condition than they had previously experienced. They took their time climbing up a weakness in the face with icey smears tucked into nooks of better than expected, fairly solid, rock. By early evening they reached their previous highpoint and stopped for the night to re-fuel and snuggle. As they leisurely left the bivouac mid morning and entered the unknown they were pleasantly surprised to find more ribbons of ice and fun yet engaging mixed climbing on, once again, better than expected rock. The team topped out late afternoon on April 15th and descended the East shoulder back to Convict Lake.

According to the first ascensionists, the climbing "isn't all that hard but often tricky and requires attention and confidence. Overall the climbing is characterized by down sloping/slabby holds that dont always feel so secure, but are usually plentiful. The Crux is about three or four pitches up and has short sections of M5 with sparse protection yet excellent movement. Much of the climbing falls into the M2-M4 range, and the ice is never very steep but generally quite thin."

Five days after the first ascent Dylan Johnson and Josh Wharton repeated the line in about five hours, making it back to their car at Convict Lake in under ten hours. They climbed the route in two blocks, simul climbing most of the lower angle mid-section, and confirmed moderate yet classic mixed climbing unlike most any route found in the Sierra Nevada. They declared the route "Fantastic", and felt more like they were in the Alps than California.